But don’t forget other workout
repetition types. Capitalize on arm
growth by utilizing forced reps
with a partner or on a preacher
curl bench, one arm at a time, assisting
yourself or with a partner.
Negative reps are also beneficial,
particularly when doing biceps in
an arm blaster apparatus, or alone
– bar or dumbbell. The point is
that through a variety of set types
you can achieve things you would
not be able to achieve just repeating
a series of ho-hum garden
variety sets and reps.
In fact, employing training methods
in the form of varied set types
also keeps you engaged mentally
too. Just do what you’ve always
done, with no variety, and pretty
soon you’ll check out mentally
whether you wanted to or not.
Engage your mind and your arms
with variety, choice and varying
degrees of difficulty and challenge,
and you’ll have to stay
engaged mentally. This is also a
good way to engage in mind-muscle
connection which is so crucial
to workouts.
3. Diet
Diet is such a subjective matter.
But a diet that keeps an eye on
protein, especially, is better than a
diet filled with junk or haphazardly
put together – it just goes without
saying. After that, it should
have ample protein and ample
calories if growth is the goal.
The single biggest mistake
amateur bodybuilders make, after
the quality of diet, is getting the
quantity wrong. You have to keep
calories high, high and HIGHER
if you want to pack on mass.
Calories need to come from 30%
protein, 50% carbs and 20% fat
when you’re building mass – no
exceptions. Here’s a good meter
of grams of each broken down by
meal. If you don’t work out in the
morning, then flip the pre and post
meals around to afternoon.
Pre-WO Meal:
140 g carbs, 47 g protein
Post-WO:
140 g carbs, 47 g protein
3rd Meal:
90 g carbs, 60 g protein
4th Meal:
90 g carbs, 60 g protein
5th Meal:
30 g carbs, 45 g protein
Fat shouldn’t be metered out, despite
me saying 20%.... flax, fish
oil caps, peanut butter (natural),
almonds, etc. are all fair game.
This plan should net you around
4000 calories at the minimum and
between 5000 and 6000 at the
maximum.
A good example of what the
above would be, using one meal
as an example is this:
8-10 oz. steak (60 grams protein)
+ 2 cups of rice + bowl of mixed
vegetables (90 grams carbs)
Your 140 gram carb meals should
come from powdered carb forms
and powdered protein forms in a
shake mixture. There is no way
you can eat that amount of carbs
in solid food form, let alone
protein, and train. Nor could you
hack it after. Remember to add
some flax oil into those shakes – a
couple of tbsp. And don’t forget to
add fat to the other meals, in the
form of almonds, peanut butter,
flax, fish oil caps, avocado, or in
the form of fattier meats. It’s always
best to eat lean cuts, but not
so lean that you keep calories low.
4. Post Workout Nutrition:
A Primer On Protein
There’s good diet and then there’s
post workout nutrition. Separating
them is crucial because the
prescriptions are more clearly
drawn out for post-workout nutrition.
Simply writing out a diet for
someone usually doesn’t cover
how to eat immediately following
a workout. And eating after a
workout is how you optimize all
that you’ve just accomplished in
the gym.
So much has been written about
protein intake, and the appropriate
type of protein. Whey, is of
course, the superior choice there,
but these days with technology
and marketing, there are many
cross-filtered and combinative
products that make choosing the